Janine Antoni

I am tool and substance, 2019

Mixed media gilded with 24 karat gold leaf

Overall dimensions: 15 1/2 x 33 x 1 1/2 inches (39.37 x 83.82 x 3.81 cm)

Commissioned by The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY

© Janine Antoni; Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York, and Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco
Photo: Ralph Smith

“I am tool and substance” captures the artist’s hands in two different positions. First, a gold painted fist presses into an open palm. They create an image reminiscent of a mortar and pestle, a tool for transforming material from one form to another, acknowledging that destruction is inherent in creation. The body is both tool and substance. Its two hands take on different roles. One hand acts and the other is acted upon. Just as the fist presses into the palm, the bones are impressed into the frame.

 When momentum meets resistance, there are two options: to shatter or to redirect the energy. Here, a spiral brings us to palms opening in a self-supporting gesture of giving. In this image, the hand wants to spread out beyond the limitations of its structure, almost to the point of releasing from the wrist itself. Cast hand bones encircle this unfurling. Negative and positive bones radiate outward. The gilded background comes forward, pushing the gestures back. Here, the body is a portal.

“I am tool and substance. I apply force, I rotate. I give way and transform, offering myself.”

“I am tool and substance” was a part of “I am fertile ground” at Green-Wood Cemetery.